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Risk and challenge are an integral part of Wellness classes at the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School in Devens, Massachusetts, where all 7th–10th graders attend these classes four days a week. We ask students to push themselves—to try new things that challenge their sense of comfort, but without the threat of actual harm. Our Wellness program includes an integrated curriculum combining aspects of health classes with physical education, games, and fitness. We offer a mixture of conventional games such as floor hockey and soccer and more unusual activities such as rock climbing, yoga, walks, and large-group tag.

The three full-time Wellness teachers frame activities so that students understand their range of options for participation and entry. When teaching middle school students to play football, for instance, I often remind them that they don't have to be able to throw a perfect spiral to be successful. I encourage them to see the fun and strategy in making up new plays or working with their team to trick the offense or defense.

For sports like this, I often split my classes in half, letting one group of kids play competitively while taking a smaller group of students aside to provide more explicit instruction and a less threatening introduction to the game. This helps students enter into the curriculum at their own place. When they are comfortable and exhibit some mastery, we can push them to go just a little further.

You don't need a ropes course to explore risk-taking or challenge. Any physical activity can involve risk—from trying yoga, to using an exercise ball for the first time, to pushing yourself to play all-out in a game of Frisbee even when you're worried about looking stupid in front of your friends. Our students complete "the dreaded mile run" twice a year to assess their cardiovascular fitness, and this event comes at a time in their lives when they are acutely aware of their own bodies and sensitive to how others perceive them. For teenagers (and some adults), running when they think that others might be watching can be a trying proposition, and we need to acknowledge the social and emotional chances our students are taking.

As a public charter school, we enroll approximately 75 new students each year through a lottery system. As these students enter Parker from more than 40 different schools and towns, I've heard them say things like, "I'm not good at gym," or "I'm just not athletic." I've always felt that my mission was to dispel those assumptions. For me, physical activity classes have become less a place for students to learn to throw a softball well, and more a place for them to learn to throw aside some assumptions about themselves and practice taking risks.